The Great Feeding Fracas
by DancingKirby
Summary: Azula has definite opinions about how she wants to care for her baby. But some people are old-fashioned and don't agree with her, and Zuko's caught in the middle.


A/N: I actually wrote this and posted it on Tumblr (you should really follow me on there...I have a bunch of little ficlets and headcanons that I don't post anywhere else!) and AO3 a couple of weeks ago, but then my computer was in the shop for nearly two weeks, so there was a delay in posting it here. I hope this doesn't come across as too preachy, but I think it's a relevant topic and in-character for Azula.

BTW, for people who like to keep track of these things, this takes place just a bit shy of twenty years post-canon.

* * *

To their credit, at least initially, the stuffy, old councilmen tried to pretend that nothing was unusual about the sister of the Fire Lord walking into the meeting chamber with a two-month-old infant in a sling.

Azula was aware they were not thrilled to have her presiding over the meeting, but Zuko and Mai were off making appearances at their precious Republic City, so they were stuck with each other.

"Can you please promise to behave?" her brother had asked her.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll go just fine," Azula had replied faux-absentmindedly, carefully _not_ promising anything. What could he do if she didn't? Burn half of _her_ face off? Yeah right.

At any rate, she'd been sitting in on these meetings for years now, and nothing untoward had ever happened.

So she hadn't actually been intending to cause trouble in this case. Kazuo had been fast asleep, and the meeting wasn't that long, so she thought he'd nap through the whole thing. But right in the middle of a rather dull discussion of the tax on rice, he started stirring and fussing. His diaper was still dry, and he was already being held in the sling, which only left one likely complaint: hunger.

Well, she didn't want Kazuo to start on the full-blown bawling… he was generally a good-natured baby, but even so he could only be pushed so far. There was only one way to take care of that. Just as casually as she would cross her arms, she undid one of the special flaps on her top and started feeding him. The effect was immediate. The talking abruptly ceased mid-sentence, and all the councilmen (and they really were all men) stared at Azula aghast.

"Problem?" she asked with a smirk.

A flurry of rather unsure noises meant to signify the negative followed.

She gazed at them calmly and said, "Continue, then."

After a few seconds, one of the men ventured, "Y-yes, well, an increase in tax from seven to eight-and-a-half percent will produce more revenue in the long run than an increase to ten percent because…"

Eventually, the other men took his lead. All the while, Azula maintained eye contact while they were squirming to avoid the oh-so-terrifying sight of her providing sustenance to her baby.

Then, when Kazuo was finished, she shifted him to her shoulder to burp him (the first time she'd fed him unsupervised, she'd forgotten this step, and it hadn't been pretty), and neglected to rearrange her clothing fully for a few seconds. Therefore, a small sliver of skin still showed under the flap. This was finally too much for the men to endure. One of them squeaked out, "Madam, this is unseemly!"

And after that, chaos erupted. Azula certainly wasn't planning on killing or seriously hurting anyone! Didn't they know if she wanted to do that, she would damn well do more than shoot a weak fireball that was barely enough to singe clothing? But the way everyone suddenly reacted, one would think that she'd shot lightning.

Well, it didn't seem like they were going to make any more progress in this meeting, plus Kazuo was starting to get upset from the noise. Thus, any more of her time spent here would be wasted. So she rose and walked out of the room, leaving the nearly apoplectic men behind, and never even missed a beat on patting Kazuo's back.

1 Week Later

"A_zu_la!"

"Wh_aa_aat?" she answered, mimicking Zuko's inflection. Then she added, "You know, as I've told you before, it's generally considered polite to greet people with a 'hello'."

He'd summoned her to his private audience chamber within hours of returning from his vacation. And he knew that _she_ knew what he was about to scold her for.

"_One_ council meeting, Azula!" he was saying. "You just had to go to _one_ meeting without pissing off my advisors! Now I'm going to have to write personal letters of apology to all of them, _and_ pay for their damaged robes."

"All this over one breast, brother? I was under the impression that most of them had been married at some point. One wonders how they can complete their marital duties if they are in such fear of this body part. Maybe they do it in the dark?"

"_Azula._..."

"Or maybe their wives have an undershirt glued to their skin at all times?"

"Stop changing the subject!" Zuko bellowed. Then he took some deep breaths…seeing Zuzu trying to keep from losing his temper was always amusing…and started over.

"They probably were overreacting," he admitted, "But there are some things you just can't do at formal meetings like this. Mai didn't…she left Izumi with a nurse when she attended council meetings. Which reminds me…why didn't you leave Kazuo with a nurse in the first place?"

"Oh, you know I don't trust the servants, Zuzu. Besides, they said I'm doing an excellent job taking care of him myself."

It was fairly common knowledge that the servants always had to re-change Kazuo's diapers because Azula didn't put them on properly, and that she bristled whenever anyone tried to show her how to do it the right way. But Zuko decided against mentioning that. Instead, he said, "No one's going to look down upon you for having some help every now and then. Even women who are ordinary citizens hire babysitters."

"Ordinary citizens don't have to worry about assassins."

_This_ again? It wasn't a completely unfounded fear, of course, but he thought she'd been talked out of it weeks ago.

"I'd always thought that babies were worthless lumps until they started firebending…or at least walking," Azula mused in a more subdued manner. "And this one's no different really…all he does is cry, sleep, eat, and eliminate wastes. Not to mention he just about killed my back in the last trimester of pregnancy because he was so big. But for some reason, this particular one is _my_ worthless lump, and I want to protect him. Don't you think I should at _least_ be allowed to feed him when he's hungry?"

While this may have been the truth, Zuko knew that the way she said it was meant to manipulate him. And it worked. He could more or less take whatever nasty barbs she threw at him, but he just could not hold firm on the very rare occasions she broke out the sad voice.

A few minutes passed, with Azula looking at him expectantly, and he finally threw his hands up and said, "Okay, _okay_, I'll talk to them. But if you _have_ to feed him in public again, can you maybe try covering up with a blanket or something?"

"No."

It was going to be a long several months until Kazuo was weaned.


End file.
